


Is There Somewhere

by ellacj



Series: 52 Weeks of Swan Queen [41]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Adultery, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Cheating, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Implied Sexual Content, Songfic, bc i can't stop thinking about sq as a halsey song
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-09
Updated: 2015-10-09
Packaged: 2018-04-25 14:55:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4965100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ellacj/pseuds/ellacj
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"You're ripped at every edge but you're a masterpiece."</p><p>-Halsey</p>
            </blockquote>





	Is There Somewhere

**Author's Note:**

> Lyrics taken from the song "Is There Somewhere" by Halsey

_You were dancing in your tube socks in our hotel room_

_Flashing those eyes like highway signs._

Regina giggles to herself as she rolls over on the crisp white sheets. “That was a good one.”

“You’re welcome,” Emma teases.

“Oh, I love this song.” Regina stands up, and Emma forces herself not to think about how cute she looks in her white knee socks. In _only_ her white knee socks. She turns up the radio and dances, fumbling around the room until she collapses back on the bed beside Emma.

Regina’s phone rings on the nightstand, and her smile fades when she checks the Caller ID. “It’s Mal.”

“You should answer it. She’s probably worried about you.” Emma avoids Regina’s eyes.

Regina swipes the green button on her phone and presses it to her ear. “Hello?... no, it’s taking longer than I thought… maybe another hour or two… I love you, too… bye-bye.” She turns to face Emma again. “Sorry about that.”

Emma takes a few deep breaths. “Maybe you should go.”

_Light one up and hand it over, rest your head upon my shoulder,_

_I just want to feel your lips against my skin._

Regina furrows her brow. “But I want to stay. And now I can’t go home for at least another hour, so why can’t I just stay here with you?” She reaches into her purse and pulls out her kit, waving it teasingly in front of Emma.

Emma takes a moment even though she’s already made up her mind. “Okay, yeah, I don’t want you to go either.”

“I knew it.” Regina grins and opens her kit as she falls back onto the bed. Once it’s rolled neatly enough that no green is visible, she takes a lighter to it and brings it to her lips. “Oh, it’s been too long since I’ve done this,” she sighs, smoke rising from her lips as she does.

Emma snatches the joint from her hand and takes a long drag. “You always show me a good time.”

Regina leans her head on Emma’s shoulder. She peppers kisses up and down her neck, not in a sexual manner, just in a need for closeness. They always need to be closer.

_White sheets, bright lights, crooked teeth in the night life,_

_You told me this is right where it begins._

Regina sighs and stretches out across Emma’s legs. “You know,” she says while Emma plays with her hair. “This is right where it begins.”

“Where what begins?”

“I don’t know.” Regina looks thoughtful for a moment. “Everything.”

There’s a brief second of silence, and the two of them burst into giggles. “God, I forgot how philosophical you get when you’re high,” Emma says as they come down. “I’ve missed that.” She leans down to kiss her.

_But your lips ain’t heavy underneath me_

_And I promised myself I wouldn’t let you complete me._

“Do you ever feel guilty?” Emma asks quietly.

“Not when I’m here.” Regina sits up and plays with her fingers in her lap. She doesn’t meet Emma’s eyes. “But when I get home… yes, I do.”

“Do you want to stop?”

Emma doesn’t even hide her grin when Regina whispers, “No.”

_I’m trying not to let it show_

Emma clenches her fists at her sides as Regina gets dressed and heads to the door. She won’t let Regina see her weakness.

_That I don’t want to let this go._

“Will I see you again?”

Regina smiles. “I’ll text you.” She leans in to kiss Emma slowly, deeply, all too briefly. “To hold you over until next time.” And with a gentle trace of her finger over Emma’s jaw, she’s gone with the hotel room door closed behind her.

_Is there somewhere you can meet me?_

It’s three days later when Emma sends the text.

**I miss you. Is there somewhere you can meet me?**

**_Performing in an hour. Come backstage._ **

Emma stares at the address with a pounding heart. She knows, she _knows_ Mal will be there, but that doesn’t stop her from grabbing her jacket and typing the address into her phone’s GPS. It’s a small club, maybe two hundred people, and the backstage area is clearly marked so Emma can easily find her way. Mal is on her way out to the seating area and Emma actually brushes her hand as she passes.

_‘Cause I clutched your arms like stairway railings_

_And you clutched my brain and eased my ailing._

“I just passed Mal. I just _touched Mal_ ,” Emma hisses as Regina pulls her into an embrace. “I shouldn’t be here.”

“Shhhhhh,” Regina says with her lips pressed to Emma’s forehead. “We’ll be okay. Besides, isn’t it kind of fun? The danger?”

“A little, I guess.”

“Go sit down.” Regina kisses her forehead again. “I’ll come up with an excuse after the show.”

_You’re writing lines about me, romantic poetry_

_Your girl’s got red in her cheeks ‘cause we’re something she can’t see._

Regina starts the show with a slow love ballad, and Emma can see Mal in the front grinning with cheeks bright pink as Regina sings with that beautiful voice of hers. But, as she plays the guitar bridge to the chorus, she turns her head ever so slightly, meets Emma’s eyes, and gives a wink so subtle Emma barely sees it at all.

This continues through the whole show; Regina singing to Emma, pretending to sing to Mal, and the audience being none the wiser. Emma hates how happy she feels.

_And I try to refrain, but you’re stuck in my brain._

“We can’t do this anymore,” Emma forces herself to say when she goes backstage to meet Regina. “Mal loves you, and you love her. I won’t be the one to get between that.”

Regina frowns. “You never had a problem being in the way before. What’s changed?”

“I see the way she looks at you. If she finds out about this it’ll destroy her.”

“But I don’t want to give you up.”

“Then make a choice.”

_And all I do is cry and complain because second’s not the same._

Emma folds her arms. “I’m not gonna be second place anymore. So make your choice. Either be with me, totally and completely, or go back to the woman you’ve loved for two years. But you can’t have us both.”

Regina tilts her head, seemingly unaffected by Emma’s outburst. She narrows her eyes. “What brought this on? We were never serious; you _knew_ that. It was always just sex.”

“Jesus, don’t you see it?”

_I’m sorry, but I fell in love tonight._

“I’m in love with you, Regina.”

_I didn’t mean to fall in love tonight._

“I know I wasn’t supposed to fall for you… but I have.”

_You’re looking like you fell in love tonight._

Regina doesn’t say anything. Her eyes shine with what could be tears, but she doesn’t open her mouth. She just stares at Emma. And stares. And stands there and stares.

_Could we pretend that we’re in love?_

Emma shakes her head. “I shouldn’t have come tonight. I’m sorry.” She turns on her heel and hurries out of the club before Regina can even get a word in. She tries her best to swallow the tears on the way home. The last thing she needs right now is to get into an accident because of her blurred vision.

Regina calls the next morning, but Emma ignores it. All eight times. It’s only when three sharp knocks sound from her apartment door that she musters the courage to face the woman she loves.

_I’m sorry but I fell in love tonight._

“I love you, too,” Regina says before the door is even open all the way.

_I didn’t mean to fall in love tonight._

“I never meant this to turn into anything more.” She shuffles her feet on the hallway floor. “I broke up with Mal. She knows everything.”

_You’re looking like you fell in love tonight._

Emma doesn’t say anything. She tries to blink back the tears forming in her eyes, to no avail, and tugs Regina by the collar of her shirt into a passionate, bruising, tearful kiss. And she can’t even feel guilty because this, right here in the open doorway of her apartment, is the first time she’s ever truly loved. She can taste forever on Regina’s lips, and that’s not something she’s willing to give up.

_Could we pretend that we’re in love?_


End file.
